Florian Schneider-Esleben (born April 7th, 1947, Germany) is one of the founding members of influential and pioneering electronic music band Kraftwerk. He founded Kraftwerk with Ralf Hütter in 1970, the two having met in 1968 studying at the Düsseldorf Music Conservatory, and played together in the improvising ensemble Organisation. April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ... Album cover of Trans-Europe Express (1977). ... Cover of the album Ralf und Florian. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Originally his main instrument was the flute, which he would treat using a diverse manner of electronic effects, including tape echo, ring modulation, use of pitch-to-voltage converter, fuzz and wah-wah. He also played violin (similarly treated) and made use of synthesizers (both as a melodic instrument and as a sound processor). Later he also created his own electronic flute instrument. After the release of their 1974 album, "Autobahn," his use of acoustic instruments diminished. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... Ring modulation is an audio effect performed by multiplying two audio signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. ... A 1965 Gibson Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1A, one of the first commercially available fuzzboxes. ... Wah-wah is an imitative word for the sound of bending or altering musical notes to improve expressiveness, sounding much like a human voice saying the syllable wah for each note. ... Violin The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. ... The term synthesizer is also used to mean frequency synthesizer, an electronic system found in communications, or video synthesizer. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... Autobahn (/aʊ-təʊ-bɑːn/, German for motorway) by Kraftwerk, released 1974, is often cited as one of the most pivotal albums in music history. ...

Schneider speciality appears then concentrated on sound design (in an interview in 2005, Hütter called him a "sound fetishist") and vocoding/speech-synthesis. One patented implementation of the latter was christened the Robovox, a distinctive feature of the Kraftwerk sound. He is known as the static, more secretive of the elusive duo, apparently disliking touring. A vocoder (name derived from voice coder, formerly also called voder) is a speech analyser and synthesizer. ...

David Bowie titled his Heroes instrumental track "V-2 Schneider" after Schneider. Bowie was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk's sound during his "Berlin" period in the late 70s. David Bowie David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947 in London) is an English rock musician and actor. ... Heroes was an album by David Bowie. ...

Schneider currently lives in Düsseldorf, and has a daughter. He is the son of architect Paul Schneider-Esleben.